Chapter 32: Token Crunch
On the spectators’ side, the scene caused an uproar.
"What the hell was that boy doing?!"
"He tried to grab her? In the middle of a tournament fight?!"
"Shameless! He deserves worse than a broken arm!"
Some shook their heads in disgust, others jeered loudly, and a few laughed bitterly at the boy’s disgrace.
Garion, however, only sighed as he rubbed his forehead.
Really, Dahlia? Letting go at the least second because of that? Tch. You should have broken his arm first, then kicked him.
Still, his eyes softened slightly.
But at least you didn’t freeze completely. You reacted and attacked. That’s already good.
Not far from him, the red-robed elder’s face had turned stone-cold.
His fingers tightened on his chair’s armrest until the wood cracked faintly.
His disciple was not only humiliated in front of a thousand by a girl, but he also tarnished his sect’s reputation with a single act.
"That little girl... just from which sect she is from? To dare humiliate my disciple like this..."
Garion could feel the pressure from a distance and smirked faintly.
"Looks like that elder didn’t take that well. Good. Let them fume. This is only round one."
---
Back inside the forest, Dhalia stomped hard, again and again. Her fists hit the rough bark and left white marks.
"You pervert!"
She punched the tree one more time, harder, then sank down on a root, knees pulled to her chest.
She hugged herself for a long time before the anger cooled down, letting her think about another problem.
How could I get points from defeating him? Do I need to kill him like other beasts? But isn’t that too much?
Her fingers curled around the jade token as she suddenly realized something.
She pressed the token closer to her forehead, trying to sense the mana inside, and it quickly made her understand.
"I see it now. These tokens were directly tied to the owner. If I break his token, he will be the one who is forced out."
A small smile appeared on her face.
"Maybe... just maybe the half points he lost would be transferred to me."
Her pulse quickened at the idea. This must be the rule of getting points from defeating the other competitors.
She hugged the token again, hoping to meet the boy again, smirking.
"He will look for his friend and search for me, and at that time, it will be my greatest harvest."
---
The boy already ran through the forest, breath ragged, heart pounding.
"Just you wait, little girl. When I find my friends, I’ll make you pay, I’ll..."
He clenched his fists so tight his nail dugs into his palms. The thought of being humiliated by a little girl.
Just the memory of her calm and cold face, the way she’d kicked him. It already made him so infuriated.
"Damn her. She’ll regret this. I’ll find my group and counter. We’ll trap her, smash her, and crush her token. Then we’ll be the ones laughing."
---
Dahlia moved through the forest, wanting to hunt everything.
She soon found a huge wolf with red eyes. It snarled and leapt, but it didn’t make her back down.
Dahlia let her body flow as she punched it from the side, then another, and finally one to the throat.
The wolf staggered, fell, and went still.
She knelt, pressed her hand to its flank to be sure, then wiped her palms on her robe.
"Easy peasy."
Minutes later, someone else appeared. It was a boy with a sword in his hand, eyes wide when he saw Dahlia standing there.
But before Dahlia could say anything, the boy started his attack directly.
He already saw the wolf corpse, so this girl must be strong. That’s why he needed to attack first.
He let his mana run along his blade before doing some flashy sword strikes on her.
The body didn’t have any real form. He only uses his brute strength and mana.
Dahlia only needed to watch his shoulders and hips to see his swing’s path.
Dahlia stepped aside and struck her palm at his ribs, soft at first, before hard, in a double strike.
He quickly stumbled, but Dahlia wasn’t finished yet.
She twisted and caught his wrist, forcing him to drop teh sword.
The boy yelled and tried to swing with his other hand, but Dahlua backed up, turned, and with a smile took the jade token on his belt, crushing it.
His eyes went wide, quickly shouting at her.
"No... What are you doing?"
Dahlia only watched as the light around him flashed.
In a heartbeat, he was gone, teleported out, leaving half of his points to Dahlia.
Dahlia felt a tiny rush, like a bell ringing in her chest.
Her guess was indeed true. Each token was tied to a person.
Break it, and the person left, leaving half the points for the crusher.
"Next!"
She kept moving and soon found a group of people fighting a giant boar.
Dahlia quickly slid between the fight, diving under a swing and driving an elbow into the boar’s throat.
The beast staggered, then collapsed.
The three looked at her with surprise, gratitude, and a hint of fear simultaneously.
Before they could say anything, she rushed directly to them.
The three of them frowned and quickly spread out. They forget that this was a competition.
Then they trapped her and began attacking her, but their skills were not good.
She easily read the lines of their strike, guessing the path, and closed the gap.
She quickly used palm strikes to subdue one of them and then a quick leg sweep to topple the rest.
And immediately after that, she took their tokens and crushed them, forcing them to be teleported out.
Far off, she could hear the beasts calling again, and the clash of distant fights.
There was just a lot of prey in this forest that made her hungrier to collect all of them.
"This is the best. I don’t know why, but I felt so hungry. Time to hunt."